Few Obey New Law By Registering Home Day Care

But now, 18 months after all family day-care homes in Florida were required to be registered with the state, officials are admitting failure.

``It looks kind of grim. It`s just not working,`` said Angie Schaeffer, acting assistant director of Broward County`s child care unit, which is responsible for licensing home day care.

Officials estimate that Broward has at least 900 family day-care homes -- usually run by a mother who cares for five or fewer unrelated preschoolers in her house.

So far, however, only 34 people have registered, and 80 more have requested applications, Schaeffer said.

Under state law, failing to register is a first-degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum fine of $500 and 90 days in jail.

``I think it`s really a lack of communication. Advertisement is one of the major problems,`` Schaeffer said. ``There are a lot of people who don`t know how imperative it is to register.``

Statewide, the picture is much the same.

Of the estimated 12,000 family day-care homes that operate in Florida, only 700 have registered, said Pam Bridge, day-care specialist for the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

``We have not had the response we wanted,`` Bridge said. ``The primary reason is because it`s voluntary. Even though it`s the law, we don`t know of a home that is operating unless someone tells us about it.``

In January 1985, child advocates won a hard-fought battle when a new law went into effect, requiring all family day-care operators to register with the state.

Operators were mandated to provide basic information, such as their address and phone number, and character references. It also required fingerprinting and background checks of all adults living in the home.

But family day-care registration quickly became a major headache for Broward County licensing officials, who discovered that 13 cities banned such homes from residential areas because of local zoning laws.

Many of those cities, including Coral Springs, Cooper City and Tamarac, regarded home day care as a business use, which was not allowed in a single- family residential zone.

So last year state Rep. Anne Mackenzie, D-Fort Lauderdale, introduced a bill to override the local zoning laws and prohibit cities from banning home day care.

A bitter legislative battle and floor fight erupted, but the law finally passed and became effective Oct. 1.

Most Broward cities are abiding by the law, but child care officials say that doesn`t appear to have increased registration.

``We`ve had the same response all over the state,`` Bridge said. ``We get a lot of inquiries, we sent people all the information and they don`t necessarily send back a response.``

Several Broward women who have registered their family day-care homes say the poor response is easy to understand.

``I think a lot of people just aren`t aware of the laws,`` said Geraldine Miller, a Tamarac home day-care operator.

``To me, it doesn`t make a bit of difference to register, unless you`ve got a child-abuse record,`` Miller said. ``And I think that most people who have a criminal background won`t go through the registration. They`ll either quit the business or go underground.``

Marie Wagner of Cooper City also chose to register her family day-care home rather than go underground.

``I wanted to be totally legal,`` she said. ``If I had any problems with any parents, I could fall back and show that I`m doing it the right way.``

Wagner said, however, that it took many phone calls to numerous agencies before she found out how to register.

``I was going crazy because I was having a real hard time finding out what I was supposed to do,`` she said. ``This may be one reason why a lot of people just give up.``

Some officials have concluded that the only way to make the law work is to enforce it -- something that has never been done.

``I think we must start fining people,`` said Schaeffer of the county`s licensing unit. ``But even when we investigate and find those people, you have to catch them in the act, and that`s hard. They usually just fold up or go underground.``

To compound the problem, in some cities that previously banned home day care, officials don`t know what they are supposed to do.

``I don`t think we`ve come up against it yet,`` said Linda Heaton of the Coral Springs Planning Department. ``No one has bothered to apply here.``

Pompano Beach Planning Director Fred Kleingartner said home day-care operators still must be granted a zoning variance in his city, where an application costs $400.